The Cow

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1885

Catalog grade guidance: K–5 — Short children’s lyric; good for early memorization and reading aloud.

18 content lines · 99 words · Est. recitation about 1 min 2 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Project Gutenberg #136.Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

The Cow

  The friendly cow all red and white,
       I love with all my heart:
  She gives me cream with all her might,
       To eat with apple-tart.

  She wanders lowing here and there,
       And yet she cannot stray,
  All in the pleasant open air,
       The pleasant light of day;

  And blown by all the winds that pass
       And wet with all the showers,
  She walks among the meadow grass
       And eats the meadow flowers.


                                           XXIV
                                       Happy Thought

  The world is so full of a number of things,
       I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.


                                            XXV